Can Lithography Go to the Extreme?(commercial usefulness of extreme ultraviolet lithography)(Brief Article)

An industry-government group proves the validity of extreme ultraviolet lithography, but some still question if it ever will become a useful commercial tool.

As semiconductor manufacturers press the limits of current optical lithography, many are scrambling to find a next-generation lithography (NGL) system. Devising an NGL is consuming many in the industry because the health and viability of tomorrow's electronics industry will hinge on it. Simply put, to continue on with Moore's Law--the doubling of power of electronic chips every 18 months, which has become the industry standard for advancement and success--one or more NGLs must be developed.

A leading NGL candidate is extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUVL. But during its 10-plus years of R&D, EUVL has been both the darling and the black sheep of the industry.

EUVL is being developed in programs in a number of countries like Japan, France, and the US. It has the backing of industry trade groups, such as the Semiconductor Industry Association and International Sematech. It is identified in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors as a potential solution to future lithography challenges. And in the US, it also enjoys the backing of major chip-making companies, including Intel, IBM, Motorola, Advanced Micro Devices, and several others.

A consortium of these companies called the EUV LLC, has an active research program to advance EUVL. The EUV LLC, with a budget of $250 million, is working with three national laboratories to essentially take defense technologies, like those to make highly precise mirrors and optics, and apply them to the circuit manufacturing.

This project is so big in scope and challenge that it has even been called the semiconductor industry's "moon shot" of technology. Recently, the EUV LLC demonstrated the capabilities of a completed "alpha tool" system. To many, this was vindication and proof that EUVL can work.

"EUVL will be the production technology of the future," promises Intel Corp.'s, Santa Clara, Calif., Chuck Gwyn, who is the program director of the EUV LLC. "We think this because of the reasonable cost of ownership, and the fact that we have basically demonstrated all aspects of the technology."

"There is no question in my mind that this is the correct solution to producing devices that have geometries of 0.05 microns [50 nm] and lower," adds Art Zafiropoulo, CEO of Ultratech Stepper Inc., San Jose, Calif. "This is the only technology that will be successful."

But to many others, the EUV "alpha tool" is a big, complex system. Proving it can lay down one layer of a circuit pattern in a laboratory test is far removed from the intricacies and tradeoffs that rule real-world manufacturing environments. The …